UN peacekeeping force in Lebanon urges 'maximum restraint' after Israel, Hezbollah trade cross-border fire

"UNIFIL is following up on the firing across the Blue Line" between Lebanon and Israel, said Andrea Tenenti, spokesman for the UN Interim Force in Lebanon.

UNIFIL chief "Major General Stefano Del Col is in contact with the parties urging the maximum restraint and asked to cease all activities," he told AFP.

Israel said it returned fire on Sunday after anti-tank missiles from Lebanon hit targets inside its territory, raising fears of a serious escalation with Hezbollah after a week of rising tensions.

Hezbollah claimed it destroyed an Israeli military vehicle and killed and wounded those inside, but Israel has not commented in detail.

Lebanon's Prime Minister Saad Hariri urged the United States and France to intervene, contacting US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and French President Emmanuel Macron's diplomatic adviser to do so.

Tensions have risen in the last week between Israel and its enemy Hezbollah, the Lebanese Shia movement backed by Iran.

Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah said on Saturday the group's response to an alleged Israeli drone attack on the group's Beirut stronghold had been "decided".

The pre-dawn August 25 attack involved two drones - one exploded and caused damage to a Hezbollah-run media centre and another crashed without detonating due to technical failure.

Israel has not claimed responsibility for the incident.

Sunday's escalation comes just ahead of Israel's September 17 election.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is seen as wanting to avoid a major conflict before then due to the political risk involved, but he has also warned Lebanon and Hezbollah to "be careful."

Addressing Nasrallah, Netanyahu told a conference in Jerusalem on Tuesday that "he knows very well that the state of Israel knows how to defend itself well, and to repay its enemies".

He suggested that Nasrallah "calm down".

But while Nasrallah has issued warnings to Israel, Hezbollah's number two Naim Qassem in an interview with Russia Today last week played down talk of a "war atmosphere."

"The atmosphere is an atmosphere of response to an aggression," he said.

A 2006 war between Israel and Hezbollah took the lives of 1,200 Lebanese, mostly civilians, and more than 160 Israelis, mostly soldiers.

Follow us on Twitter: @The_NewArab